


Backwards Down The Number Line

by AlexandraO



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Memories, Song Lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-25 05:01:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17718545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexandraO/pseuds/AlexandraO
Summary: “Laughing all these many years, we’ve pushed through hardships, tasted tears. Made a promise one to keep, I can still recite it in my sleep.”





	Backwards Down The Number Line

**Author's Note:**

  * For [I_was_BOTWP](https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_was_BOTWP/gifts).



> This was written for my wonderful friend, fellow admin, and occasional beta, I_was_BOTWP. I hope you enjoy this little Harmony story based on Backwards Down The Number Line by Phish. Love you!

                                             

* * *

 

Harry crept into the kitchen and leaned on the door jam, his legs crossed at the ankles. He stood there watching Hermione as she hummed and danced to some Muggle tune quietly playing in the background on the wireless. Her hair was pulled up into a chaotic bun on top of her head, wiggling with each movement she made.

 

Walking the distance between them, Harry wrapped his arms around her middle and placed a kiss on her temple.

 

“Hi,” Hermione said, turning her head. Harry kissed her on the lips, which she returned eagerly.

 

When he pulled away, he grinned. “Hi,” he echoed. “I love you.”

 

“I love you too,” Hermione said, turning back to the food simmering away on the stove. “Is everything okay?”

 

Harry laughed. “Can’t I just kiss my loving wife whenever I please?”

 

Hermione smirked. “You can, but more often than not you are up to something, Mr Potter. I can tell from a mile away.”

 

“You know me so well.” He paused and reached around her to turn off the stove. “Can we put dinner on hold for a bit? I have something I want to show you.”

 

Hermione frowned and looked down at her hands which she was now wringing — a nervous habit she had picked up over the years, especially after the war.

 

“Hey, love,” Harry said, putting two fingers underneath her chin so she would look at him. “It’s nothing bad, promise.” He pressed another kiss against her lips, in an attempt to reassure her.

 

She nodded, and he laced his fingers through hers, pulling her toward his study. When they walked in, he gestured to the seat across from his desk. Hermione sat down, and he walked around to the other side. Opening the bottom-most drawer, he pulled out his pensive and set it on the wooden surface.

 

Looking up, Hermione had a curious look on her face. Almost eager, as if she was about to learn something new, though a hint of anxiety still lingered. Opening the top-right drawer, Harry pulled out a small vial, the size of Hermione’s index finger. Uncorking the vial, he poured in the memories and watched as they swirled around until the first memory started to surface. Waving his hand, Hermione stood up and joined him.

 

“I want you to watch these. My memories… of you, of us.”

 

Hermione nodded again, and as they grasped hands, they placed their faces on the smooth surface of the water, diving into the memories.

 

* * *

Hermione was shocked as they landed at King’s Cross station — where Harry’s journey away from the Muggle world began. She waited patiently as the memory fast-forwarded. It was almost overwhelming — she could feel what Harry was feeling in that moment. He was about to take her on a journey backwards down the number line.

 

The memories flashed before Hermione’s eyes, some quicker than others.

 

**_They were meeting for first time on the Hogwarts Express. She fixed his glasses._ **

 

**_She was crouched in the corner of the girl’s bathroom as a troll wreaked havoc around her. Harry and Ron came running in to save her, distracting the troll and knocking it out cold._ **

 

**_She was laying in a hospital wing bed, petrified._ **

 

Looking over at Harry, she saw the pained look on his face as the boy in the memory ran his fingers over Hermione’s stonelike, lifeless body. She gripped his hand a little harder.

 

**_Harry was beating himself up in his dorm room after fighting with Hermione about his brand new Firebolt._ **

 

**_They were traveling back in time with her time turner and riding Buckbeak to save Sirius._ **

 

She felt his feelings change during this memory, watching herself grip him tight around the middle as Buckbeak dived around the castle and Harry grinned, not only from the rush but from Hermione’s closeness. The sister-like love she thought he had for her at the time was shifting.

 

**_Hermione brought toast and walked around the lake with Harry after he was named the fourth champion._ **

 

Hermione felt his gratitude, and his love, grow as she watched her younger self tell Harry that she believed him and accepted his story without question. That she knew he hadn’t done it. She could remember what she felt at that moment as well — fear and worry for what was to come.

 

**_The moment Harry saw that Hermione was attending the Yule Ball with Victor._ **

 

She could tell that there was a bit of jealousy mixed in when Harry looked at Hermione standing next to Viktor. His jaw had dropped that night, she remembered. Looking over to fine her husband staring at her. “You were so beautiful that night. I was a bit jealous, but not like Ron. I wanted you to have a good time.”

 

Hermione smiled sadly. “I know. I don’t blame you for what happened.”

 

They both turned their attention back to the scene unfolding in front of them as the Yule Ball scenes disappeared.

 

**_Hermione kissed Harry after fourth year at King’s Cross Station._ **

 

Hermione grinned and leaned into Harry as she watched her fifteen-year-old self whisper into Harry’s ear and kiss him on the cheek.

 

“It meant a lot to me at that moment,” Harry said. “I had just been through hell, and I needed a friend.”

 

“I’ll always be your friend,” Hermione replied. “And more.”

 

“I love you.”

 

**_Harry joined the Order at Grimmauld Place for the first time, and Hermione was apologetic for how he had been treated over the summer._ **

 

Hermione could feel the anger radiating off of this moment. She didn’t need to look at Harry’s face or even feel the emotions — she remembered it vividly. Her younger self launched herself into Harry’s arms as soon as he entered the room. She felt the anger subside, if only for a moment.

 

**_Hermione was telling him he should have said she was ugly to Cho._ **

 

**_Harry, Hermione, and their friends were going to the Department of Mysteries to save Sirius._ **

 

This was all a bit of a blur for Hermione, so it was almost as she was watching it for the first time. As glass spheres began to fall, it was Harry who had grabbed a handful of her robes and dragged her forward. She felt his fear at that moment, scared for not only what was happening, but for her.

 

That fear continued when she was hit by the curse from Dolohov. He had crawled over to her, and when Neville found her pulse, she felt the overwhelming relief that swept through him.

 

“I was so fucking scared,” Harry said. “I thought you were gone.”

 

Hermione smiled. “Never, I couldn’t leave you.”

 

The scene morphed into another and another.

 

**_Harry telling Slughorn Hermione was the best in the year…_ **

 

**_Hermione telling Harry that he is fancible and more interesting than ever..._ **

 

**_Hermione meeting Harry at the portrait hole and telling him she passed her apparition test..._ **

 

**_Harry, Ron, and Hermione standing in the Astronomy tower, looking at the fake locket..._ **

 

She saw herself telling Harry she wouldn’t turn back and was overwhelmed by the emotions she felt inside the memory. Gratitude, fear, happiness, and even, surprise.

 

Hermione looked over at him. “Were you really that surprised that we decided to skip seventh year with you?”

 

Harry had the good graces to look sheepish at her question. He shrugged. “I knew you wouldn’t turn your back on me, but there is always that little bit of doubt, right? I was dealt a shitty hand at the beginning of my life — trust doesn’t always come easy.”

 

Hermione nodded in understanding.

 

**_Hermione arriving at the Burrow after battling Death Eaters..._ **

 

Hermione watched as she flung herself into Harry’s arms as the polyjuice wore off. She felt his relief again as he held her in his arms; the same arms she still loved to be held in to this day. She felt safe and protected — it was her favourite place to be.

 

**_They were at Bill and Fleur’s wedding where Hermione looked Harry in the eyes when the minister declared the couple bonded for life._ **

 

**_Ron and Harry had fought, and Ron was leaving them in the middle of the forest on the Horcrux hunt._ **

 

Hermione could feel and see the anger coming off the Harry in the tent. The Harry next to her was as calm as ever, having grown past the abandonment and worked out the issues he had with Ron. One emotion she felt that she was curious about, was guilt.

 

“You felt guilty?” Hermione asked. “Why?”

 

Harry just shook his head. “I didn’t know what I was doing, and I knew I was just kinda dragging you along with me. I had the feeling you wanted to go with Ron, especially since I knew there was a bit of a crush there.”

 

“I wanted to be there with you, Harry Potter. Don’t you ever doubt that.”

 

The scene once more morphed into another. Hermione didn’t even remember it happening. It was so brief, but she felt love radiating from the memory as she had brushed her fingertips across his head. He had closed his eyes as she did it. There was also a touch of sadness in the memory. Racking her brain, she remembered that he had been mourning Dumbledore — the man Harry thought he knew.

 

**_Harry and Hermione were huddling around blue flames in the tent for warmth._ **

 

**_There were in Godric’s Hollow visiting his parent’s grave for the first time._ **

 

Hermione gripped Harry a little tighter as she watched the Harry in the memory openly cry, weeping for the parents he had barely known. She knew it was one of the most challenging moments in his life. She felt his love for her as she conjured the wreath of roses.

 

“I love you,” Harry whispered again.

 

“I love you,” she echoed. “I loved you even then.”

 

**_Hermione was being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange at Malfoy Manor._ **

 

Hermione swallowed as the white manor came into view. She gripped her arm where the scar would be forever. No medicine could ever repair the cuts that had been made with Bellatrix’s cursed knife.

 

Harry lifted her arm from around his and pulled up her sleeve. He placed several kisses on the scar that read _mudblood._

 

“This does not define you,” he whispered. She knew he took every chance possible to be sure that she was never less than anyone else.

 

She returned her gaze to the scene unfolding in front of them, and her heart hurt as she felt Harry in agonising pain as she screamed and cried. The feeling of hopelessness was overwhelming, and tears pricked the corners of Hermione’s eyes.

 

“You did everything you could,” Hermione said as the scene faded. “I don’t blame you.”

 

**_Harry grasped the Elder Wand, Voldemort crumbling at his feet, defeated._ **

 

Hermione grinned watching the memory of her and Ron running to Harry, wrapping their arms around him. There was a tinge of sadness because of everyone and everything they had lost, but relief overpowered that sadness, if even just for a moment.

 

Harry pulled her out of the pensieve as that memory faded and she immediately wrapped her arms around his middle. “...And you know the rest,” Harry said to her, returning her hug and resting his forehead on hers.

 

Hermione nodded, hot tears falling down her face. The overwhelming feeling of love and respect that she had for this man was indescribable. She would never turn her back on him, even when times were tough. She promised it back then, and she would promise it over and over again, for the rest of her life.

* * *

**_“Laughing all these many years, we’ve pushed through hardships, tasted tears. Made a promise one to keep, I can still recite it in my sleep.” — Backwards Down the Number Line by Phish_ **

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to HeartOfAspen for being my beta for this piece!


End file.
